The best gaming routers have faster processors than your typical router, and enough antennas to really beam data to the far corners of your house. This TP-Link model, the Archer C5400X, made our list of the top gaming routers thanks to its easy-to-use software and wide array of ports, and it's currently at its lowest price ever via this early Black Friday deal.
The Archer C5400X tends to cost about $260 on Amazon recently, but until the last few months was $280 or more, making this $219.99 price a good discount. It's not the cheapest router you can buy, but it's packed with features and bristling with antennas (eight of them!). It includes 16GB of storage so you can share files between devices, and critically has MU-MIMO support, which lets it better serve multiple wi-fi connections at the same time. It's also absolutely packed with Ethernet ports, which is a plus if you hardware everything.
When we reviewed the Archer C5400X, we scored it over a 90, particularly praising its easy setup and software features, including a built-in speedtest and security suite. It's also simply fast, and has some deep traffic shaping and Quality of Service options. Those are designed to help keep games running smoothly, even when you're streaming videos and using multiple devices on the same network. Some older routers don't handle QoS very well, but TP Link apparently did a great job here. As we wrote in our review:
"While many routers offer priority by the application, or by the device, the Archer C5400X can do them both, simultaneously, a welcome, but rarely seen option in other routers. Strengths are many, with ridiculously fast 5 GHz throughput, a user-friendly interface with a large library of advanced features, and robust QoS. Weaknesses are minimal: slow 2.4 GHz throughput and a lack of an integrated GPN."
Considering most devices these days support the faster 5 GHz Wi-Fi, and 2.4 GHz is so often congested, that's an easy trade-off. Our conclusion: those QoS options and "blazing 5 GHz throughput puts the Archer C5400X at the front of the gaming router pack."
We're keeping track of the best Black Friday router deals we find, so if you want something a little different to run your network, keep an eye on that guide throughout the week.
